The Music Tapes- Mary's Voice

You can now give a the full album from Julian Koster's The Music Tapes a listen, the album officially came out September 4th, but has been put on soundcloud by Merge records.

The album is called Mary's Voice and is about as odd and whimsical as one would come to expect for this member of the Elephant 6 Collective. Koster is known especially in this project to use organic sounds and just generally antique technology that makes his recordings sound old, but somehow rich with sound at the same time. It's a contradiction that I'm not sure works all of the time for me personally, although, it makes for an interesting listen either way. That added antique element also delivers unique vibes of civil war music and general old propaganda, something that is a definite theme throughout.

The Music Tapes- "Evening"

A new track from Julian Koster project, the Music Tapes. Koster was a member of indie rock band Neutral Milk Hotel and is a member of Elephant 6 Collective, which also features Of Montreal among former band mates like Jeff Magnum.

This new track in a surprise to no one is a little strange, but it finds a way to work. It does so through compelling rough vocals in what sounds like a very rough recording. From what I understand about this project and Koster himself that is likely a very intentional choice. Even with the rough lo-fi sound that is used there is clearly a complex amount of musicianship used and likely a lot of organic sounds as well, something Koster has used frequently in the past. With that rough sound all of the various instrumentation is kind of meshed into one wall of sound, it's an effect that I think worked in this situation. Unfortunately, Julian Koster is known as a storyteller and with the low quality sound of this track his lyrics kind of get lost and muddled within the music.

Look for Mary's Voice September 4th.